Japanese Concentration Camp Freed His Spirit Successful Brevard Realtor Owes A Lot In Life To 3-year Ordeal In Philippines

July 13, 1986|By Ruth Rasche of The Sentinel Staff

COCOA BEACH — Jack Korenblit spent three years imprisoned by the Japanese in a concentration camp in the Philippines, but he doesn't regret it.

''I made peace with myself because I didn't know if I'd last one day or one year,'' he said. ''When you were there in the camp, there was no tomorrow.''

Although the ordeal embittered some people, Korenblit credits the hardship with shaping him into an understanding and caring person.

''It changed my whole attitude and outlook. I became much more patient with people,'' he said. ''It was my belief in people that pulled me through. If people had more faith in people, our world would be very different.''

Forty-one years after his release from the camp, Korenblit, 70, is among Florida's most successful Realtors. The founder and president of Trend Realty in Cocoa Beach, he is active in many local, state and national organizations. ''Jack is one of the most giving Realtors in the area,'' said Leah Selig, executive vice president of the Cape Kennedy Area Board of Realtors. ''He gives his all freely and we're very proud he's a member. Jack is a very caring and giving person and I think that's added to his success. Everyone likes people like him.''

Korenblit grew up in Poland, which is reflected in his accent. After he graduated from high school in 1934, he went to the University of Caen, France, and earned chemistry and chemical engineering degrees.

While there he married his high school sweetheart, Paula, who died several years ago after nearly 50 years of marriage. They lived in Europe until 1938 when Adolf Hitler began to amass strength. Korenblit then cabled his father, who owned a chain of shoe stores and haberdasheries in the Philippines, and said it was time to go.

''I didn't think Hitler and I would get along, so I left,'' Korenblit said. ''I never wanted to go to the Philippines, but my father was there so it was the best choice I had at the time.''

Korenblit opened a cosmetics company in Manila in 1939 and hired 10 people. Within eight months he had 100 people working for him.

Things were going great -- the family even had several servants -- until Christmas 1941. That is when Manila was declared an open city, meaning it was left open to enemy occupation to gain immunity from attack.

''It was not the most pleasant thing,'' Korenblit said.

On Jan. 10, 1942, Japanese soldiers came to the Korenblit's home and took him, his wife and 6-month-old daughter, Gloria, to a civilian concentration camp. They were imprisoned along with all other descendants of allies of the United States. The family was not released until Feb. 5, 1945.

''I went down to 98 pounds; I was half-dead,'' Korenblit said. ''I got only 4 ounces of rice a day. It was bad.

''It was hard to understand the Japanese at the time. They thought you were no good if you were white. They visited us like we were in a zoo. Of the 5,000 people in the camp, 800 or 900 died.''

After their release the Korenblits waited ten months -- until December 1945 -- for the first available boat out of the Philippines.

They eventually landed in Galveston, Texas. Korenblit's father had a friend in Beverly Hills, Calif., who rented a house in Los Angeles for the Korenblits so they could recuperate. Four months later Korenblit went to New York and friends took him to New Jersey, where he bought a home.

Then came another problem. He couldn't find a job as a chemist, much less one in his area of expertise, which was essential oils used in making perfume. To make ends meet Korenblit represented his father in exporting goods to the Philippines, where his father still had stores. When his father became ill and moved to Miami in 1950, Korenblit went to visit him.

''What I saw, I loved,'' he said. ''So we moved there.''

In 1955 Korenblit started to ''dabble'' in real estate in Miami Beach. His specialty was selling land.

''I sold land in 17 counties; I know Florida well,'' he said.

On Labor Day 1957 Korenblit went to Melbourne Beach with some friends and bought 25 acres stretching from the ocean to the Indian River. Within two months they sold the land ''for a sizable profit.''

In the early 1960s Korenblit went to Brevard to develop the Silver Pines subdivision in Rockledge. He liked the area so much he opened Trend Realty in Cocoa Beach in 1964.

Since then he has helped develop Fischer Park and Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach and developed Bay View Park subdivision in northern Cocoa Beach, where he named a street -- Jack Drive -- after himself; the Admiralty Golf Course in Rockledge that now is the Indian Pines Golf Course; and Paris Shores in north Indialantic.

''Being a broker and developer helped me understand other buyers' needs,'' he said. ''I promised myself when I walked out of the concentration camp that I would be involved in good causes. I like to be involved, and if it's a good cause, I'll do it.''